Date: Wed, 15 Mar 1995 23:57:37 -0500
From: Chris Hagin
To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS
Subject: Gay Group Plans Its Own St. Pat's Day Parade Down Fifth Avenue
FROM WIRE SERVICE REPORTS
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 1995
Gay Group Plans Its Own St. Pat's Day Parade Down Fifth Avenue
NEW YORK -- A judge refused Wednesday to order the city to let a gay
organization hold its own St. Patrick's Day parade, and Irish-American gays said
they would march anyway to protest their exclusion from the traditional parade
down Fifth Avenue.
U.S. District Judge John F. Keenan said two Fifth Avenue marches on Friday would
strain city services.
The Irish Lesbian and Gay Organization, known as ILGO, immediately filed an
appeal but it was unclear if an appeals court would rule before the parade.
The group has held protest marches in each of the past three years. In 1992, the
police did not interfere; in 1993, more than 200 marchers were arrested; last
year, 102 were arrested. All the charges were later dismissed.
Organization spokeswoman Anne Maguire said the group's members would march up
Fifth Avenue on Friday several hours before the traditional parade begins on the
same avenue.
The judge said the city's ``interest in preserving the public order outweighs
any hardship'' that the group might experience from having its application for a
parade permit turned down.
``There is no question that ILGO has a First Amendment right to proclaim its
message of pride in its Irish cultural heritage and in its homosexuality,'' the
judge wrote. ``But this right is not absolute.
``First Amendment rights are subject to reasonable time, place and manner
restrictions to further significant government interests.''
Police Chief Louis Anemone hinted that police might arrest protesters.
``The law will be enforced on St. Patrick's Day as it is on any other day,'' he
said.
Keenan suggested that the group hold a parade on another date to avoid the
conflict, but Maguire said that wouldn't do.
``St. Patrick's Day and Fifth Avenue is where the Irish come out and celebrate
our national heritage, our culture, how we've gotten on in the United States,''
she said. ``That's where we want to be as Irish people. And that's where we're
not allowed to be because we're Irish lesbians and gay men.''
Gays also are excluded from Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade.
In 1992 and 1993, court orders allowed a small number of gays to take part in
the South Boston parade, but last year the organizer, a veterans group, canceled
the parade rather than have the gays march.
This year, the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council declared its parade a
protest march, and a federal judge upheld its right to keep the gay group out.
Warm regards,
S. CHRISTOPHER HAGIN
Atlanta 1996
chagin@atlanta.com
HATE IS NOT A FAMILY VALUE